Enigma 2 The Rapture

Leo Abrahams follows up his Enigma hit of 2013 with an apocalyptic selection of distorted instruments and walls of sound. Layer into your mix for the ultimate in distortion & feedback. We decamped to Pool Studios, Bermondsey (London) for weeks of plundering Leo’s unique and rare collection of instruments, pedals and amplification. Where the original Enigma is a relatively small boutique selection of awesome sounds, "The Rapture" is a deep-sampled treatise on the art of distortion, feedback, filth and squalor.

Key Stats

• 65356 Samples
• 67.6 GB Uncompressed .WAV
• 36.1 GB disk space required
• 72.2 GB disk space required during install
• Kontakt Full Required

Overview

A deep-sampled library of distorted beauty, that captures Leo's incredibly cool aesthetic, presented in different forms to give you a multitude of options. An enormous variety of articulations, via Leo's enviable guitar collection, his candy store pedal board and a host of different vintage amps and signal paths recorded at London's ultra cool Pool Studios.

Distortions - 18 Pedals with 167 different articulations each with six unique signal paths.
Augmentations - Along the lines of the original Enigma, 24 inspiring dedicated Mercury "synth" sample sets again each with 6 unique amps.
Evolutions - a 16 x 16 Evo Grid - With 4 different amps and signal paths to patch in and mix.

• If you're a producer looking to add that edge to your music then this is a must-have for your arsenal: anything it touches gains a white-hot zeitgeist edge.
• If you're a writer in need of that spark of inspiration both Enigmas are "inspiration machines" which can instantly feed your imagination.
• If you're a composer looking to employ distortions on your scores, whether it be for film, TV or games, you can now do this with confidence. No more lame distorted guitar sounds!

Background

Leo Abrahams is a trailblazing musician, composer, and producer who has recorded and toured with such successful artists as Imogen Heap, Ed Harcourt, Roxy Music, Grace Jones, and Pulp. Leo began to write and produce for a catalogue of aspiring singers and bands, which led him to creating his own records including The Unrest Cure, featuring the vocal stylings of Brian Eno, KT Tunstall, Ed Harcourt, Foy Vance, and Bingo Gazingo. Leo has produced for a number of artists including Regina Spektor, Paolo Nutini, Wild Beasts, Frightened Rabbit and Carl Barat of the Libertines. He has composed such incredible soundtracks as that of The Lovely Bones (with Eno) and Hunger (with David Holmes) and he is also credited as the guitarist in such fantastic film scores as that of '71, Oceans 12, Twilight and Green Zone. Leo’s talent has extended across multiple genres of music, and it is his devotion, along with his raw talent that has brought him the success he has today.

He had this to say about "The Rapture":

"When I'm writing, I often build a sound first and let the composition evolve from it. I hope that some of the guitar sounds on offer here will inspire other people to do the same. I also hope that some of the ambient sounds are helpful when what's needed is neither a synth pad nor an actual 'part', but just a bit of atmospheric ambiguity (or ambiguous atmosphere, depending on whether it's a sci-fi thing or a costume drama).

With this library, I hoped we could capture a sense of danger and abandon, which it is often the guitar's job to impart. There's also such a wide variety of emotions and textures available from different fuzz boxes and guitars - I find I hear far too many guitar tones in soundtracks that sound generic and cheesy. I wanted to put the product of my compulsive years of eBay scouring at people's fingertips.

When I was playing on David Holmes' soundtrack to Oceans 12, he sent me round every guitar store in LA buying vintage fuzzes until we found the right tone for a particular cue. It took 2 days, and one of the VI's is from that very stompbox.

So it's partly intended as a gap-filler in people's toolboxes, and partly as an inspiration machine. If you decide to investigate, thanks in advance."